How early is too early for a routine?

I have a 2year old toddler in a very strict routine and it works fantastic for us. I've just had our second Bub who is now 2 weeks old and mostly fed 4hourly since birth and been a fairly good sleeper too. Obviously the week we were in hospital we just went with her demands/having to wake her every 4hours as she often didn't herself and the nurses insisted on it as she was jaundiced.
Anyways we really want them to be in the same routine but we aren't sure if it's too early to be putting the new Bub in such a strict routine. As in having a shower at 6:30pm as we don't have a bath so we need to shower with them and in bed by 7pm after a bottle. The last few days she's woken herself by 6pm so it's been ok but tonight she was still sound asleep. Now I do believe in not waking a sleeping baby but went against my gut and woke her for a bath which she got pretty angry over.
I dunno what to do if we have her in the toddlers nighttime routine she has a feed like 10:30-11 before hubby goes to bed then only wakes once during the night for a feed which is great for us. Not sure how often she would wake if she just went to bed whenever she wants.
Gosh I feel so clueless right now even tho this certainly isn't new territory. :s

I understand where you're coming from. I have a 3 year old and she has a pretty strict routine and I'm about to have my second child next week. I do worry about our whole routine falling apart and how I'll cope with that.

I do think though that 2 weeks is too young to be too invested in a routine. For example if the baby is awake for the bath at 6pm great, but I don't think I'd wake them up for it. Could you just continue your 2yos routine and if baby is awake and able to be a part of it then include them but if not make adjustments along the way. It seems like things are working well for you at the moment, it would be awful if you tried to force bub into the routine and everything went haywire with your feeding/ sleeping schedule. Good luck! I'm sure in about a month I'll be exactly where you are now.

The Following User Says Thank You to Rose&Aurelia&Hannah For This Useful Post:

We are similar, I have a nearly 3yo who follows and loves her routine. My DS is 4 months and as much as I would love hhim to sleep at the same time as DD it isn't always possible at his age. I generally follow a 4 hrly feed-play-sleep routine with him and have done since birth but I follow his lead as to the times. He is slowly settling into his own little routine but I know it will change so much before he is 12 ish months. At the moment he usually wakes 7.30, naps around 9.30-11.30, 1.30-4ish and 6.30 - 8.30. Then bed for the night at 9.30. DD naps 2-4 and sleeps 8-8.
If they're not napping at the same time I try and enjoy the one on one time with each child

The Following User Says Thank You to twinklify For This Useful Post:

My first was on a routine from the moment she was born, she was seriously like clock work, I knew when she would eat, sleep, poop, she never messed it up. Then DS came along well her certainly was not one who slept 95%of the time like my first, I quickly found trying to get him in DD's schedule was not working, as you already know your bub's sleeping/feeding patterns will be changing over throughout the next year, I would stick to what works for him, once he is going the whole night without waking is perhaps when I'd try syncing their bed times.

Thanks everyone lots to think about. I'm only concerned about bedtime as in I like them going to bed at a similar time. I certainly don't expect their daytime to match up at all. I'm lucky Bub has instantly understood day from night so that's not an issue at all.
My first spent the first month in hospital so came home on a feeding schedule and she never slept as much and for our sanity we needed a routine for her and it worked for us then.

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